Botanical Gardens Cop Out Response

Dear Mr. W.,

Your feedback concerning the New York Botanical Garden's online application was reviewed by our staff. Several departments are currently working to redirect online applications to a more user-friendly and methodically organized site. It will incorporate elements you suggested and deliver emails confirming payment was received.

Thank you for contacting the Botanical Garden. If you have any questions do not hesistate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Membership Office
The New York Botanical Garden
Phone: 718.817.8725
membership@nybg.org

Something Smells Funny in the Botanical Garden

To Whom It May Concern:

About two weeks ago, I purchased an individual gift membership to the Botanical Garden for my mother's birthday. Although my credit card was subsequently charged the $75 membership fee, neither my mother nor I received an email confirmation. When I called the membership line today about this, the representative told me that my mother was indeed registered. The membership materials would arrive in the mail shortly, but I should not expect to receive any email receipt. Apparently, upon purchase, I had an opportunity to print out a receipt, as well as a temporary membership and parking pass.

This is simply not an acceptable way of doing online business. It is common practice for a website to send an immediate confirmation email when you buy something. It's not enough that the site simply provide you with a page to print out. Not sending an email receipt is somewhat like a store clerk showing you a paper receipt and telling you to take a photograph of it if you'd like to keep a record. With online purchases, it is even more incumbent on the company selling the item to ensure that a receipt is delivered directly to your mailbox: unlike the store situation, customers do not walk out with a physical product; instead, they put their trust (and credit card numbers!) in the company's hands in the hopes that the item will be delivered.

In this situation, it was particularly unfortunate that I did not receive an email with the receipt, temporary membership, and parking pass. My mother plans to visit the Botanical Garden for her birthday tomorrow. While the representative from the membership office provided me with my mother's membership number, she told me my mother would not be able to have a parking pass for her visit--since I had apparently missed my opportunity to print it out when I had the chance.

I strongly suggest you revise your policy so that all online purchasers of memberships receive immediate confirmation of their credit card purchases.

Very truly yours,

Christopher W.

JetBlue Response... hopefully successful

Hello Christopher,

Thank you for contacting JetBlue Airways. We regret to hear that you have been receiving unwanted promotional messages from us. When you signed up for our TrueBlue Program, you checked the box to receive special offers from us. At this time, we have removed your email address from our mailing list; you won't receive anymore emails from us including your TrueBlue statements or award notifications. However, you can stay posted on all of your TrueBlue account activity through your online account.

We hope to welcome you onboard a JetBlue flight sometime in the future.

Sincerely,

Holly

JetBlue JetBlows (or JetBlue Blues)

To Whom It May Concern:

At some point I must have registered to receive advertisement emails from JetBlue. I've never flown the airlines before, but I imagine I had to start receiving these emails for some reason.

The thing I don't understand is why I keep receiving them after unsubscribing using the link at the bottom of the emails. I have unsubscribed some five or six times, repeatedly seen the notice "You have been unsubscribed from our mailing list," but still continue receiving emails.

So I have two requests:

(1) Tell me why this has been happening; and
(2) Stop sending me advertisement emails in the future.

Very truly yours,

Christopher W.

HSBC Response: How to Speak with a Human in Seven Easy Steps

Dear Mr. W.:

Thank you for contacting HSBC Bank USA, N.A., the world's local bank.

Providing excellent customer service to our account holders is one of our guiding principles,
and we regret that your request was not handled to your satisfaction. Your relationship with HSBC
is important to us, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

If you wish to directly talk to a Customer Service Specialist please follow the instructions below:

-call 800-975-HSBC (4722)
-choose option 1
-choose option 1
-choose option 1
-enter your account number followed by the pound (#) key
-enter your Telephone Access Code followed by the pound (#) key
-press 0 (zero) to speak with a representative

If you do not know your Telephone Access Code, or if you have forgotten it, do not enter anything
when prompted to enter your Telephone Access Code.  You will be asked three times, and after
the third time, press 0 (zero) to speak with a representative.

If you wish to directly talk to an Internet Banking Specialist please follow the instructions below:

-call 800-975-HSBC (4722)
-choose option 1
-choose option 3
-choose option 2
-choose option 2
-enter your account number followed by the pound (#) key
-enter your Telephone Access Code followed by the pound (#) key
-press 0 (zero) to speak with a representative

If you do not know your Telephone Access Code, or if you have forgotten it, do not enter anything
when prompted to enter your Telephone Access Code.  You will be asked three times, and after
the third time, press 0 (zero) to speak with a representative.

If you wish to contact our Bank Card Security Department you may directly contact them
at 1-800-462-1874.

For additional information on the products and services HSBC Bank offers, please visit us
at us.hsbc.com

Our Customer Relationship Center is always available, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to meet
all of your banking needs.  Please e-mail us by clicking 'BankMail' in the gray navigation bar on
the left or call 1-800-975-HSBC (1-800-975-4722), and speak with one of our professionals.
If you are outside the United States, you may call us collect at (716) 841-7212.

Sincerely,

Gowtham Raja S.
Internet Banking Specialist

HSBC Customer Service Is Atrocious... I can't even be creative any more

To Whom It May Concern:

HSBC has the absolutely worst customer service I have ever dealt with. My ATM card is suddenly not working at the machine and, after 30 MINUTES on the phone, I am still not in touch with a representative. It is nearly impossible to be transferred directly to a human.

Okay, I finally got in touch with someone after 10 minutes. Unfortunately, this person is in a different department. When I asked him to transfer me to the ATM card department, he transferred me to the mortgages department. Are you kidding me? And right now my cellphone batteries are running low.

This sort of terrible experience happens to me EVERY SINGLE TIME I TRY TO GET IN TOUCH WITH HSBC. This is exactly the reason why I intend to close BOTH my accounts at the end of this month.

As if this weren't enough, every time I send a letter complaining about the customer service, I receive a empty apology back, a response that says absolutely nothing about fixing the bigger problem.

Again, the customer service is completely atrocious. I intend to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau this afternoon.

Very truly yours,

Christopher W.

KFC Boxmaster

To KFC:

I am an American citizen currently traveling through Bulgaria. To my surprise, I've seen numerous KFCs here. I've also noticed that KFC recently debuted a new sandwich. It's called the "Boxmaster." No joke.

I understand that most Bulgarians do not speak English, and fewer still have familiarity with semi-obscene English slang, but still--isn't there some sort of vetting process that would have caught this name before it was slapped on a sandwich?

Also: I'm a big fan of your chain of restaurants. If you have any spare coupons or stickers hanging around the office, I'll use them when I return to the states!

Thanks,

Christopher W.